Stuffing box construction



Jan. 10, 1939. E ABRAMSON 2,143,825

STUFFING BOX CONSTRUCTION Filed May 12, 1936 INVENTOR Ernest L. Abramson ham im Cqa ATTORNEYS from the stufilng box for such purpose L as replacn this characterwhich Patented Jan. '10, 1939 l oons'rauo'non i "ErnestL Abrams oil; Davenport, I oWaQassignor 3 =Micro-Westco, Inc., Bettendorf, Iowa, at corp'o- I ration or Delaware t I e namar a s riarnalvazss n gzolaimauoiaae-tszy This invention relates to stuningboxes andhas particular reference l with self-adjusting packing lands;

Anobjectof y invention is to provide astuff ing box Jollower or gland which will not become loose for require attention when, installed, but which will maintain a substantially uniform pressure on the acking materialpfacilitatertheestimationof the pressure on the packing material by visual observation, and be simple to adjust. t;

'A further objector this invention is to provide a st'ufling, box follower or gland easy to i remove ingthepacking material. it

A still further object is to roviee a deviceof is simple (in design, inexpen sive tomanufacture nd adapted to be used in connection with existing ,stuqflng boxes; without substantial changes in design or construction,

. Further objects will appear a proceedwith I my invention the; novelty of which is-intended to be pointed out and claimed.

Figure 1Visasideelevationoi oneend of a rotary pump illustrating a preferred embodiment of my invention as it wouldappear applied tothe stufling box for the shaft ofsuch; pump},

i ,Fig. 211s an end elevation of the pump mus-x a triated in Fig. 1 with parts broken away to more clearly show the js'tuiiing; box gland or follower; 7 Fig.3 vista horizontalsectign on line 3-3 of Fig. 4 is sectionsimilar to Figs? showing a 'm'odiflediiorm of my invention; and p Fig. 5 is a plan view f themodification illus trated lung. 4.

"Briefly; my invention" comprises a gland-or fol 'iower having'a resilient plate attached to the end protruding from the device is assembledthe extremities of the flexible plate are flexed toward the stufllng box proper and fixed in the flexed position. Thus the gland or follower continually exerts pressure against the packing materialeflecting a fluid-tight joint requiring a minimum of attention.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, Iii

designates the casing of a centrifugal pump which it is desired to make fluid-tight. In the center of the casing is astumng box H through which passes the shaft I! of the pump.

The body portion IGof the stuflingbox II defines an elongated cylindrical stufling chamber iLtlarger-in diameter than the shaft l2 One end of the stufilng chamber decreases in diameter toform the circumferential boss l8, which has a running flt with shaft ii. The stumng to. stufling boxes provided L circumferential pressure on forced againstfthe the packing chamber chamber I1 completely surrounds a portion of the shaft l2; and, when filled with a suitable packing material l9,'under pressure, will form'a seal to S PATENT c prevent the pasage of fluid fromone side of the ride upon the shaft l2 and be moved freely into II to compress the stufiing it materialinto the formbf'an annulusJ it the packing chamber Inthis invention the follower is continuously i packing materialftomaintain l 20 the internal pressure in thefstuflingchamberi The gland20 has one end"2i projecting -witlfiin l1 so that it is guidedzby the body portion; of the stuffing box and is prevented from binding the shaft. The outer end 22 of the gland projects from the body portion i6 of the stufling box to' permit longitudinalrnovemane This outerend 2 2 is provided withtta substantially 'flat, resilient plate such ascthe leaf spring 23.

I prefer to attach the leaf spring to the glandby forming a shoulder 24 and a port on 26 of reduced diameterionthe end 22 of the gland 20. A hole gages the shoulder'zl and reduceddiameter portion 26 of the gland 20. To preventthe rotation cent marginal portion of the leaf spring around the hole 25. l l v v l In the preferred embodiment of my invention the tapering ends 21 and 28 of thisleaf spring are provided with centrally extending slots 28 45,,

and 30, which .receive the shanks 3| of the swivel bolts}! and 33 The bolts 32 and 33 are prefer-f s 25 in the resilient plate fltsover the 7 end 22 of the gland 20 so that the marginal por-' tion of the plate 23 surrounding the hole 25 enably pivoted by means of the pin bolts 34 in reoesses 35 in the bosses 36 which are shown as 1 being formed integrally with, and on diametrically opposed sides of the stufling box H. The nuts 31 on the swivel bolts 32 and 33 engage fiat portions of the leaf springs 23 adjacent the slots 29 and-30. p

In assemblin'gthe unit the gland or followerili is moved into position withinthe open end of IE the stufllng chamber H, the swivel bolts 32 and 33 are swung into the positions shown, with their shanks 3| lying respectively in the slots 29 and 30 of the leaf spring 23, and the nuts 31 tightened, whereby the leaf spring 23 is flexed and the follower 20 urged toward and against the packing material l9.

It has been found desirable, in fabricating the leaf spring 23, to bend it adjacent the hole 25 so that it normally assumes the arcuate form shown in Fig. 3 with the convex side toward the stumng box. The bending of the leaf spring in this manner keeps the swivel bolts 32 and 33 in engagement with the leaf spring because one component of the force exerted by the leaf spring. tends to urge the swivel bolts toward the shaft [2. It will also be seen that when the packing l9 has been considerably worn so that'the gland 20 is substantially all within the stufling chamber II the extremities 23, because of their being bent outwardly in this manner, will not be forced against thebosses 36.

Tightening the nuts 31 on the bolts 32 and 33 flexes the leaf spring 23 and tends to force the gland 29 into the stufiing chamber H. In this manner the packing. material-l9 is tightly compressed about the shaft [2 effecting a fluid tight seal. It will be seen that at all'times the packing ma'terial I 9 is compressedbecause of the pressure exerted thereupon by the gland 20. As the-packing material wears away or loses its volume, the gland 20 willmove'further inside the body portion. Hiv of the stuffing box and the packing ma-' terial'will be'maintained under compression.

' Since the leaf spring member 23 is flexed by tightening the nuts 31, the gland 20 can move aconsiderable distance into the stufling chamber IT- after a' single adjustment under the positive pressure exerted'thereon by the leaf spring 23.

Consequently no; adjustment of the gland will be necessary during the-operation of the device on which this type of gland or follower is employed for a considerable period of time or until the gland 20 has moved farenough into the stufiing chamber I! so that the leaf spring member 23 is I completely'deflexed andno longer exerts a. pressure; on the gland. In

tightening the nuts 31 eitherwhen compensating for the wear in the packing material 19 orafter having repacked the stufllng boxythe pressureexerted' on thejstufling .material l9 by the gland 2.0 may be readily esti mated .by visual observation of the amount of deflection of the leaf spring member '23.

In Figs. 4, and I have illustrated a modific'a tion of my invention in which the extremities 38 and 39 of the leaf spring 23 have been folded back upon' the main or bodyportion 'llliof the spring butseparated therefrom by a flexing space 4|. Each of these folded over portions has slots corresponding to the slots 29 and 30'0f the embodiment of my invention hereinabove described. In this modification, however, it will be seen that leaf spring element 21 and 28 of the leaf springnuts to thereby urge the these slots are double, comprising slots 42 in the body portion 40 of the leaf spring and slots 43 in the end portions 38 and 39 of the leaf spring. It will be seen that since the effective length of the considerably greater, relatively speaking, than the leaf spring element shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, it will be somewhat more resilient '.When repacking a stufllng box employing a gland or follower constructed according to the present invention, it is only necessary to loosen the nuts 31 on the bolts 32 and 33 sufllciently so that the spring 23 is'deflexed, swing the swivel bolts 32'and 33 they disengage theslots in the leaf spring, and

away from the shaft l2 so that then withdraw the gland 20 from the body member l6 of the stuffing box. In this withdrawn position theold-p'acking material l9 can be removed and replaced, if necessary, after which the device is reassembled.

Without departing from thescope of thepresent invention, intended to be covered by the appended claims, numerous modifications of my invention arecontemplated, particularly in the construction of the leaf spring-member 23.

WhatI claim is: t I I 1. In a stuffing box construction, a housing, a rotatable shaft extending through the housing, a follower-slidable on the'shaft and in the housing, packing disposed in the housing, a resilient plate having a central portion aperturedto receive the shaft and adapted to-seat against theouter end of the follower, said plate having projecting end portions each provided with a slot in its outer extremity, swivel bolts pivoted on the housing and swingable into the slots of the resilient plate, nuts carried by the swivel bolts engageable with the end portions of the resilient plate whereby the plate can be flexed to resiliently urge the follower toward the packing, and the nut'engagi-ng surface of said end portions formed'at an'angle to the normal pressure of the nuts to urge the bolts toward the closed ends ofthe slots. v v

2. In a stufling box, a housing; a shaft extending .throu'gh the housing, packing disposed around ing, and said plate having its convex side toward the housing'and' th'e'projecting end portions directed away from the housing to provide surfaces sloping toward the shaft for enga fiment with the bolts toward" the closed ends of the slots.

ERNES'I'ULV. VABRAMSQN.

shown in Figsyi and 5 is and resiliently urge the follower against the pack- 7 

